A Letter from London

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20109, 30 March 1928, Page 8

A Letter from London

Special Correspondent.

All Rights Reserved.

LONDON, February .12. The King’s Speech. As foreseen the King’s speech at the opening of Parliament was of almost. record brevity. So much so in fact that it offered little scope for comment .from the Opposition. This being so the only objections forthcoming are being directed to the omissions. The official Labour Party amendment to the Address expressed regret that no mention was made of measures designed to grapple with the pressing urgency of unemployment. Even the economy group of the Conservative Party, I hear, are moving an amendment regretting the omission of any mention of their pct subject from the Address. On the other hand the clauses set forth in the speech have been accepted with unwonted unanimity, and the legislation proposed should easily pass through all stages in the twenty-two days which the Prime Minister announced would be all that could be allotted for that purpose.

A Bye-Election Expert. ►Sir Leigh Maclaehlan, who is about to retire from the post of Chief Agent of the Unionist Party, has seen more bye-eleetions than any man of his time, and when he had been a few days in a constituency he could forecast the result with an accuracy that was almost uncanny. Unlike so many of his class, he did not allow his hopes to warp his judgment, and when, as sometimes happened, he had to forewarn headquarters that a seat regarded as safe was likely to be lost he did so without hesitation. It was a great delight to his professional colleagues when he was appointed to the command of the machine, for previously it had been the practice to nominate sonic politician who knew little or nothing about the highly technical business of election management. It was known at the time that Sir Leigh would not hold the post long, but his selection was regarded as the recognition of a principle, and it has been continued by the promotion of another member of the staff—Mr Toping, from lhe Lancashire and Cheshire Division. Sir Leigh Maclaehlan is a quiet, unobtrusive Scotsman, who learned his business under the late Sir Juhn Boraston, of the Liberal Unionist Party.

Army Humour. A distinguished General has recalled an occasion when the late Earl Haig displayed what the army would regard as a pretty wit. It was at manoeuvres before the war, and a feature of the day’s operations was that, for lhe benefit of the R.A.M.C. mainly, there were to be casualties in due proportion to the fighting. Haig’s essentially public school humour found expression in a laconic message to a Brigadier famous for his loquacity. It ran: “You are a casualty—shot in the jaw!” 1 recall a better joke than that, however, by one of Haig’s Divisonal commanders in the war, when elaborate preparations were being made for the Third Battle of Ypres. All units ‘were given a code name to avoid possibility of conveying information to the Germans, and to one brigade were allocated all words beginning with “I.” The battalions were

“Irate,” “Ignate,” and so forth. But the code name for brigade headquarters, eomamnded by a rather selfassertive officer of Semitic strain, was “ikey”! The Totaiisator.

A strong effort is being made by Major Ralph Glyn and those associated with him to secure the passage this session of a Bill to legalise the totalisator. In the endeavour to secure a good place in the ballot for Private Members’ Bills every member has been circularised. It must be Said that the result has been disappointing. Less .than a third of the House has replied. Of those in favour all are Unionists; whereas nearly three times as many Unionists have declared themselves in opposition; be it marked also the opponents are as remarkable in personnel as in numerical strength. It is suspected that a good deal of the opposition is actuated by a feeling that the penultimate session of a Parliament is not a favourable juncture for the introduction of such a controversial measure, with the risk of its being left as a live issue at the General Election. Probably they are right, for we have seen a rcfarkable recrudescence of the Nonconformist conscience over the question of greyhound racing. It is exceedingly doubtful if a Bill would secure a second reading; or, even so, if the Government would afford facilities for its further progress. The totaiisator may come, and bo as successful as a revenue producing device as it has been in Australia, but it is doubtful if its day is yeL Voluntary Taxation.

Necessarily it has become a sort of round game, in the London clubs, guessing the identity of the patriotic lionor of half-a-million towards National Debt liquidation. As most of the outstanding millionaires* are mentioned by

somebody or other, the competition leads nowhere. It would be an exceedingly rash prophet, or crystal gazer, who ventured to predict whom • the philanthropist will turn out to be. This is the first considerable follower of Mr Baldwin’s generous example nine years ago, when the present Prime Minister

then Financial Secretary for the Coalition Ministry, gave one fourth of his fortune —£150,000 —as a non-combat-ant’s war offering towards debt reduction. veiling his identity under the initials of his Ministerial office—F.S.T. If we can wipe off a moiety of our colossal war debt by voluntary effort, as we fought the war. we shall be unique among the nations. The only criticism one hears is that perhaps the present overburdened generation, which is paying for the war as well as having done the fighting, is paying too much regard to a dubiously grateful posterity. Haig’s Passing The London funeral of Field Marshal Earl Haig will be as vividly remembered by the uncounted thousands i who witnessed it as that of the Duke l of Wellington. The contrast between the simple ritual at St. Columba’s and

the ornate ceremonial at the Abbey was marked. I thought the Archbishop when he gave the final benutiction, look cd extremely old, and rather broken up by the occasion. Foch has aged a lut since we saw him in the \ ictory march of 1919 and looked unwell. But nothing was more noticeable, as the famous naval and military commanders of the Great War marched past beside the gun-carriage, than how Anno Domini has laid inevitable mark upon them all. The French troops, picked men all, were a remarkable corps d’elite, far finer in physique anil deportment than our Guards. Ex-service men wore not impressed by the latter, but ha/1 quiet praise for the London Scottish and the R.A.F. guard of honour at the Abbev.

Dryburgh Abbey It was appropriate that Earl Haig should have been laid to rest in Dryburg Abbey, for on its earliest charters dating from the twelfth century, the names of the members of his family are to be found, and the Haigs have a trailitional right to be buried within ils walls. He lies within a few yards of Sir Walter Scott who if he could have known of it, would have rejoiced in the thought. His grave has made Dryburgh Abbey a place of pilgrimage, especially for Americans, and it will in future be more frequentd than ever now that Earl Haig is there too. It is within sound of the Tweed and within sight of a double range of wooded hills

—a scene which endeared the spot to both Scott and Haig and made it fitting for their resting place. Haig must have known that when .his time came St. Paul’s Cathedral would be suggested, but like Stevenson, he had a feeling that he “would like to Tfc among good Scot’s clods,” and left instructions accordingly. Haig and the Bagpipes

A Scottish friend expresses surprise that it should have been thought appropriate to use the bagpipes at the funeral service of Earl Haig—and in Westminster Abbey of all places. Haig had not a drop of Highland blood in his veins. By descent he was a Borderer and for a century and a half his family had been settled- in the least Celtic district of Scotland—Fife. Moreover, he never served in a Highland. or even a Scottish regiment. The words of “The Flowers of the Forest’’ were written by a Border lady—Miss Anne Elliott —and to that extent were appropriate to the funeral of a great Borderer. But they were suggested by the Scottish losses at the battle of Flodlen. Heard echoing along a mountain glen the bagpipes provide the perfection of funeral music, but my friend thinks they must have sounded strangely in an Anglican place of worship. He adds that the War Office seems to suffer from the common delusion that all Scotsmen are Highlanders. Unrecorded Famine. So many lurid events have taken place in China during the past year that it would appear that such prosaic i matters as famines no longer are worthy of being telegraphed to Europe. The latest China newspapers to hand, however, give appalling details of famine in Shantung and, Southern Chihli. Foreigners confirm the reports that at the beginning of the. year 4 000,000 people were on theA verge of starvation, that the peak of the famine bad not been reached, and that the nceu for outside help is greater than was the case seven years ago, when a worid-wide appeal was issued. A great exodus has set in from the stricken regions, land is being sold for a few coppers, houses are being torn down to proviid-c fuel, girls, young women, and even wives arc being sold in the market places, and the roots of trees, wheat-sprouts, and chaff arc the daily food of hundreds of thousands. Sympathy at a Discount. How is it that such widespread misery is unrecorded in the press here? The reason is not far to seek. We are told that the .Shantung officials attribute the famine to drought and locusts, but foreigners declare that it is chiefly due to civil wars, banditry, and exorbitant taxation. The famine may fcirly be laid at the doors of China’s misgovernors—the men who care so little for the responsibilities that should be theirs that they not only aggravate the famine conditions, but actually profit from them by diverting whatever outside relief may be contributed to their own corrupt purposes. In the past the big foreign commercial firms have habitually given freely to charitable funds, only to find themselves the first to be boycotted when political passions arc aroused. Hence, charity as an international gesture having become obviously valueless, foreigners in China are becoming npatkctic to the sufferings around them, and arc ceasing to enlist the aid of friends at home. Royal Orators.

The Prince of Wales has recently delivered two really excellent speeches, which would challenge comparison with the utterances of men who have won their wty to the limelight on the strength of their oratory alone. Until about a year ago, he used to use copious to which he constantly referred, but now most of his utterances are quite impromptu. He is, therefore, setting a pitcedent among R iyal speakers, for at official functions members of the Royal family fur many years .lave read their speeches. The Duke of York, who is steadily improving in an erstwhile unfortunate deli very, invariably mcmoiises his befo/e--lian l. Their younger brother, Prine ) Henry, is not yet at tl:e stage of dispensing with the v rilicn word. But his complete composure, and the fine

resonance of a rich voice, which I heard filling the mam rail of th? Mai--k.ii Ihni'v h‘ cl:iir.<-r ine other n.g’ L mark him as a coming rival of the Prince of Waies, although the spontaneous humour of the latter is a rare gift. I am told, by the way, that the King himself is a capable recontour, and can tell a good story with great gusto. The Duke of Devonshire. , From the fact that >ne is leaving for his Irish residence to get some fishing

it is evident that the Duke of Devonshire has to a considerable extent recovered his health. 1 am told, however, that the doctors forbid him to resume his public activities. The Duke was never really fond of them, especially when they entailed his making speeches; he undertook them merely as a matter of duty. Some members of the House of Commons still remember him as Air Victor Cavendish. Secretary to Die Treasury, and the delight the Irish Nationalists used to take in teasing him. Having warned them privately that they would get nothing out pf him by “supplementaries, ” he was asked one day, whether a long and complicated answer he had just read was to be understood in a positive or a negative sense? He gravely replied, “I must have notice of that quest!on.’ 9 British Timber Marvels.

Anyone who visits the Imperial Institute between now and the end of April should make a point of inspecting that corner of it devoted to the Empire Timber Exhibition. Opened by Lord Lovat, it affords a revelation of the enormous range of valuable soft and hard woods obtainable from Australia, Canada, British Gutana, North Borneo, Ceylon, India, and Malaya. That this enormous wealth and variety of British-growu wood is not generally made use of in commerce may be gauged, by the fact that by far the larger part of the timber imported into the United Kingdom at present comes from foreign sources. Of the £39,000.000 worth of timber imported for 1926, only £4,000,000 represented timber of British origin. ►Samples of outstanding beauty, either for furni lure or panelling, are those of Australian silky and Tasmanian oak, West African mahoganies, Alalayan laurels, Andaman marblewoods, "and the unique purplehcart of British Guiana and Trinidad. The graining effects obtained by panelling these woods arc absolutely marvellous, both in colour combination and delicate mosaic tracery of design. Mr Shaw and the Barber.

A characteristic “G.B.S. ” story reaches me from n who recently found his way into a well-worn hairdressing establishment near Pall Alall. It appears that Shaw. Kipling, Afr Baldwin, and other national figures are regular attendants at this establishment. which was founded so far back as 1611. A short time ago Mr Shaw was having his famous beard trimmed, when the barber ventured to inquire if he did not think that Christianity would have been retarder! for 2000 years if Germany had won the war. After the question had been repeated by his request, Air Shaw thought for a moment, and then replied: “Do you think, Mr Blank, that there is any Christianity to retard 2000 years?”